Improvement in corpse-preservers



moet I /f le o. ANDRUS, or'roUe'HKnEPsIE, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent Ne. 109,861,11etea Deeembet 6, 1870 enteaetea Deeember 3, 1870.

lMPROVEMENT IN CORvPSE-PRESERVERS.V

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it 'known that I, R. O. ANDRUS, of Poughkeepsie, in the county ot'Dutehess and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Corpselresel'ver;v and I do hereby decime that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had `to thel accompanying drawing forming part 'ot' this specification.

This' invention relates to an improvement in'apn paratus for preserving dead bodiesfiom decay by means of lowering the temperature of lthe air in contact with the body, .being more particularly intended for preventing decay of bodies inwarm Weather for limited periods; and l The invention consists in providing two or more iceca ses, one for the head and one for the chest and abdomen, and another for the lower limbs, itfound necessary or desirable, constructed and arranged as will be hereinafter described.

Figure 1 represents longitudinal sections of theicecases applied to a dead body, the head case being a section through line x a: of' lig. 2.

Figure 2 is a vertical section of the head-oase, fig. Al, through y' y.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. l

A represents the platform upon which the body is laid;

B lis the head-case; and

C is the chest-case.

Both of these cases may beloose from the platform, so that they may be properly adjusted to the body...

D is a head-board, which is attached tothe head-y specified.

One or both of these 'cases may be made of metal entirely, .if desired, but I have found it better to make them of wood, with the part which comes in Contact with the body of metal, as zinc or galvanized sheetll'Oll. t

e represents the metal part of the cases in the drawing. The cases are made hollow and filled with ice.

The head-case is filled by removing the detachable pins ffl e The chest-case C has a cover, C', which is eitherv doweled or hinged to the case.

rlhe 'oint ofthe cover is seen at g y'.

The inside ofthe chest-case is much in the form of the head-case turned over or bottom side up, as seen in the drawing. v K

The part'of that case marked f j' wouldjrest on the platform A, and the circular .portion would incl'osc the body.

'lhe head is laid in the circle B, and the dotted lines indicate thc height of the circle.

A thick n'oolen blanket is laid on -the platform for the body to rest on, and when the cases' are adjusted to the head and chest and tilled with ice another thick blanket covers the cases.

By this method the temperature is readily reduced to 380, and a dead body may be preserved from decay for three or four days in the hottestof weather.

Faucets may be attached to the casos for vdrawing` o' the water as the ice melts, and the icc may bc renewed, it' necessary; but, if the cases are properly protected by good non-conductors of heat, (as woolen blankets,) once filling with ice will be found suficient in ordinary cases.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentj The corpse-preserver, consisting of the ice-case B, hollowed out upon the top for the recept-ion of the head of the corpse, and the ice-chest C, hollowed out upon its under side to fit over the chest and body of the corpse, both cases being supported by the baseboard A, and al1 arranged as described,lfor the purpose rlhe above specification of my invention signed by me this 29th day of May, 1868.

R. C. ANDRUS.

WVitnesses FRANK BILOCKLEY, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

